Friction-drive speed-gear.



W. E. TRUFANT.

I y \A/I NEEEIE'i O O PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905.

-2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905.

- W. E. TRUFANT.

FRICTION DRIVE SPEED GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 25, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 25, 1904. Serial 1i 204,682.

To ad whom itmay concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER EJTRUFANT,

of Whitman, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented .certain new and useful Improvements in Friction- DriveSpeed-Gear, of which the following is a specification. V

My invention relates to speed-changing gearing adapted to automobilesand motortrucks; and it consists in a disk receiving power from asuitable engine and transmitting it through rolls to the driving-shaftand means for moving therolls along the faceofthe disk to obtain theslower speeds and reverse.

and arranged to disconnect the disk'from the power-shaft and couple thepower-shaft and the driving-shaft together to make drive direct for highspeed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,Figure l is ayiew of one embodiment of my invention, showing thedifferent the speed. Fig. Qisaview of the samelargely parts and meansfor changing in section and showing some of the parts in adifferent'position, and Fig. 3 is a plain fricr 'tion-drive with meansfor throwing out the disk and coupling the engine-shaft and thedriving-shaft directly together. another view of the device shown andFig. 5 is a modification of the same.

In Figs. 1 and 2, a represents the engine'or driving shaft, to which iskeyed the balance- Fig. 4 is wheel a, which also forms the female partof v the cone-clutch a tion-disk 0 the lever a end the gearb, keyed to.slide on the shaft Ja This gear Z) 40.; The shaft 0 carries thegear-wheel c, which a feather on the shaft 6 and 1s operatedflby Theshaft 6 carries at the other mesh with the geanbon the shaft 0. is slidon the shaft by the lever b and forms the female part of .the clutch 6meshes with gear 0 on. the stem 0 of the fric- The clutch memberb iskeyed to the shaft (Z, which terminates with the gear d, meshing withgear 6 on the live rear axle e':,

which may be provided with the usual differential eh On the shaftd iskeyed the hub d,

g are the'gears d" d.

which carries the small bevel-gears d (i and mounted on the sleeves dand d to revolve freely on the'shaft in mesh with these gears Fixed tothe sleeve ii is the "friction-roll d, and on the sleeve 03 is is madeto slide axially on the feathef (1 on the sleeve. The disk 0 is raisedand lowered and the pressure on the rolls to .give suflicient frictionis seat a speed equal to -less the speed of d, in Fig. 3,

, which is keyed to slide on.

cured by the lever c", which acts on the thrustbearing d, which supportsthe disk. The lever 0 is conveniently operated through the link 0 andlever 0 v In Fig. 1 power is applied by means of a suitable engine tothe shaft a and is transmitted through the clutch a a to the shaft 72and through this-shaft and the gears 13' b shaft 0, gears cf and tothefriction-disk c and as this disk rotates in the direction shown bythe arrow the roll d, with the sleeve d and gear (1, is made to rotatein one direction,

and the roll 0?? and the sleeve (2 and geard in the opposite direction.The bevel-gears d d d d constitute a differential gear, so arranged thatthe hub d, which carries the gears did, will not move so long as therotation of the gears d and d is equal; but if the roll 03 is moved bythe shipperf, so that it is farther from the center of the disk than theroll d, it will revolve faster than roll cl and will carry with it thehubd and shaft-d the speed of the roll d, less the speed of d If theroll d is moved to a point nearer the center of the disk than in thesame direction as 628 at the speed of d, which is the reverse speed ofthe vehicle. It will be noticed that by shifting the roll (1" the roll(i the hub and shaft at will revolve friction-disk can be obtained withthe engine running at normal speed and at all speeds all of the power ofthe engine be transmitted to the driving-wheels.

After the vehicle has been started and is moving at fair speed forwardthe frictionplate 0 may be lowered, so as to be free from the rolls, andthe gear Z), by means of the le-- ver 6, is slid out of engagement withthe teeth of the gear 6 and the clutch-surface of b and 6 broughttogether, thus making the shafts b and (2 turn as one at the same speedand leaving all the other parts of the speed-gear at rest, as shown inFig. 2. .When it is desired to secure more poweror to reduce the speedof the vehicle, the clutch a, a is disengaged by the lever a then thegear 6' is disengaged from the clutch 6 and slid into mesh with gear 6,and the clutch do. is then engaged and the frictiondisk broughtintocontact with the friction-rolls and the vehicle controlled as atfirst described. The face of the friction-rolls .may .be faced withleather or other suitablev material, as shown at d.

A drive of the simplest form of my inven- Patented Nov. 28 1905.

all speeds both forward and reverse .within the range of the tion is'shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, and is especially adapted to light work.The shaftsa and 7 are in line and carry the rolls t and t, respectively,and these rolls each have a friction-surface, which when broughttogether form a clutch and make the shafts a and r continuous and thedrive direct. The shaft 7* has a feather 7 on which slides the roll 6 bymeans of the shipper t. The disk 8 is carried by the casting 8 which issupported at three points, consisting of the bearings or hinge-joints s8, parallel with the shaft 7*, fixed to the frame of the machine, andopposite the bearings by the screw .9 which is threaded to the castingand rests on the frame of the machine, so that by turning the screw bymeans of the hand-wheel s the disk is raised against or lowered awayfrom the rolls t t. When the vehicle is started, the roll 2,"

may be near the center of the disk 8, and the .roll t, propelled by theengine, imparts a rotary motion to the disk. This impartsaslow movementto the roll t and through gears 7" r to the vehicle. While the roll t isin contact with the disk the latter moves at a uniform speed, and thespeed of the vehicle is regulated by the position of the roll 75, and toreverse the motion of the vehicle the roll is moved by the center of thedisk. When the roll t is at the point shown by the dotted lines 16 thevehicle will be traveling at full speed backward, and from this point,as the roll is slid along the disk, the speed is gradually reduced untilthe center of the disk is reached, when the roll will be at astandstill. A further sliding of the roll gives the slowest speedforward, and so on, until the roll comes in contact with the roll 25,which forms aclutch, so that the shafts a and 1 turn as one. The disk,by means of the hand-wheel s, is then lowered, so as to be free of therolls, and the disk comes to rest, and the only moving part is theshaft. To change the speed of the vehicle, the disk is again brought incontact with the rolls and the speed regulated, as above described. Theconstruction shown in Fig. 5 is similar to that of Figs. 3 and 4; but'inthis figure the disk n is carried on the balls o by the yoke w, which issuspended on the shafts a and 1- by the boxes w and w, which are carriedin a slot in the yoke. The yoke and disk are raised by the screw w,threaded to the yoke at w and resting on the journal and the screw wthreaded to the front end of the yoke at w and resting on thejournal-box w In all the figures for the sake of clearness many of theparts have not been shown, and as far as possible those shown have beenbrought into the same plane, and in any of the figures it is evidentthat bothrolls may be made to slide on theshaft, which would of coursegive greater variation of speed, and the disk itself may be made toshift in a line parallel to the axis of the rolls, which would have thesame effect as shifting both rolls.

There are manyother variations and changes which can be made withoutdeparting from the scope-of my invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is

1. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receiving power from said power-shaft; adrivingshaft, an idler-gear carried by ,said drivingshaft, two rollsmounted on the driving-shaft, means for controlling the frictionalcontact between the rolls and disk, gears carried by said rolls whichmesh with said idler, means I for moving one of the rolls along the faceof the disk, means for disconnecting the powershaft from said disk, andmeans for connecting the power-shaft and the driving-shaft togather.-

2. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receiving power from said power-shaft, adrivingshaft, an idler-gear carried by said drivingshaft, two rollsmounted on the driving-shaft, means for controlling the-frictionalcontact between the rolls and disk, gears carried by said rolls whichmesh with said idler, means for moving one of the rolls along the faceof the disk, and means for disconnecting the power-shaft from said disk.

3. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receiving power from said power-shaft, adrivingshaft, an idler-gear carried by said drivingshaft, two rollsmounted on the driving-shaft, means for controlling the frictionalcontact between the rolls and disk, gears carried by said rolls whichmesh with said idler, means for moving one of the rolls along the faceof the disk, and means for connecting the powershaft and thedriving-shaft together. 4. In an apparatus of the kind described thecombination of, a power-shaft, a disk receiving power from saidpower-shaft, a drivingshaft axially parallel with the face of the disk,an idler-gear carried by said driving-shaft, two rolls mounted on thedriving-shaft, means for controlling the frictional contact between therolls and disk, gears carried by said rolls which mesh with said idler,means for moving one of therolls along the face of the disk, means fordisconnecting the power-shaft from said disk, and means for connectingthe powershaft and the driving-shaft together.

5. Inan apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receiving power from said power-shaft, 'adrivingshaft axially parallel with the face of the disk, an idler-gearcarried by said driving-shaft two rolls mounted onthe driving-shaft,means for controlling the frictional contact between the rolls and disk,gears carried by said rolls which mesh with said idler, means for movingcombination of, a

for controlling the frictional contact between the rolls and disk, gearscarried by said rolls which mesh with said idler, means for moving oneof the rolls along the face of the disk and means for connecting thepower-shaft and the driving-shaft together.

7. In an apparatus of the kind described the power-shaft, a diskreceiving power from said power-shaft, a drivingshaft, an idler-gearcarried by said drivingshaft, two rolls mounted on the driving-shaft,means for controlling the frictional contact between the rolls and disk,gears carried by said rolls which mesh with said idler, means 'forcontrolling the rotative distance of said rolls from the axis of saiddisk, means for disconnecting the power-shaft from said disk, and meansfor connecting the power-shaft and the driving-shaft together.

8. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, a ing powerfrom said power-shaft, a drivingshaft, an idler-gear carried by saiddrivingshaft,,two rolls mounted on the driving-shaft, means forcontrolling the frictional contact between the rolls and disk, gearscarried by said rolls which mesh with said idler, means for controllingthe rotative distance of said rolls from the axis of said disk, andmeans for connecting the power-shaft and the drivingshaft together.

9. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, a ingpowerfrom said power-shaft, a drivingshaft, an idler-gear carried by saiddrivingshaft, two rolls mounted on the driving-shaft, means forcontrolling the frictional contact between the rolls and disk, gearscarried by said rolls which mesh with said idler, means for controllingthe rotative distance of said rolls from the axis of said disk and meansfor disconnecting the power-shaft from said disk.

In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft,'a disk receiving power from-said power-shaft, adriving-shaft, an idler-gear carried by said driving-shaft, two rollsmounted on the driving -d shaft in frictional contact with said disk,gears carried by said rolls which 'mesh with said idler, means formoving one of the rolls along the faceof the disk, and means forconnecting the power-shaft and the driving-shaft together. t

11. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receiving power from said power-shaft, adrivpower-shaft, a disk receiv-.

power-shaft, a disk receiv-' ing-shaft axially parallel with the. faceof the disk, a roll mounted in frictional contact with driving-shaft,means for disconnecting the power-shaft from the disk, and means forcoupling the power-shaft and the drivingshaft together.

12. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receivingpowei' from said power-shaft, adriving-shaft axially parallel with the faceof the roll along the faceof the disk, means for transmitting the power from said roll' to saiddriving-shaft, and means for coupling the powershaft and thedriving-shaft together. 7

13. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receiving power from said power-shaft, 2Tdriving-shaft, a roll mounted in frictional contact with the face of thedisk, means for moving the roll along the face of the disk, means fortransmitting the power from said roll to said driving-shaft, and meansthe power-shaft from the disk. 1

14. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receiving power from said power-shaft,adriving-shaft, a roll mounted in with the face of the disk for couplingthe power-shaft and the driving-shaft together.

for disconnecting 15. In an apparatus of the kind describedv thecombination of, a power-shaft, a disk receiving power from saidpower-shaft, a driving-shaft, a roll mounted in frictional contact 7with the face of the disk means for moving the roll along the face ofthe disk, means for transmitting the power from said roll to said i 1driving-shaft, means 'for' disconnecting the power-shaft from the disk,and means for coupling the power-shaft and the drivingshaft together.

16. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receiving power from said power-shaft, adriving-shaft, two rolls mounted in frictional con- I tact with the faceof shaft, meansfor changing the rotative distance of 'one of said rollsfrom the axis of said isk, means for transmitting the power from saidrolls to said driving-shaft, means for disconnecting the power-shaftfrom said disk, .and means for coupling the power-shaft anddriving-shaft together. I

17. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receiving power from said power-shaft, adriving-shaft, tworolls'mounted on the drivingshaft in frictionalcontact with the face of said said disk on the drivingdisk, means forvarying the rotative distance of said rolls from the axis of said disk,means for transmitting the power through said rolls to the driving-shaftat a speed equal to the diiference in rotation of said rolls, and meansfor coupling the power-shaft and the driving shaft together.

18. In an apparatus of the kind described the combination of, apower-shaft, a disk receiving power from said power-shaft, adriving-shaft, two rolls mounted on the drivingshaft in frictionalcontact with the face of said disk,means for varying the rotativedistance of

